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Monday, October 30, 2017

Welcome to Don's Basement: Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween to all my ghosts, ghouls, creatures of the night and relatives. In today's post, we explore this holiday and try to get the true meaning of Halloween.

Halloween began as the holiday Hop-tu-Naa which is the New Year's Eve of the Celtic New Year as celebrated on the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man (sic) is located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. 

To celebrate Hop-tu-Naa, the people carve turnips, dance, sing songs, and I'm guessing drink O'kell's beer. 


Traditionally, divination also has taken place during Hop-tu-Naa. I suggest these two methods that have worked for me.

-Steal a salt herring from a neighbor, roast it over the fire, eat it in silence and retire to bed


Nothing says Halloween like stolen herri

-Hold a mouthful of water in your mouth and a pinch of salt in each hand as you listen to a neighbor's conversation, whereupon the first name mentioned would be that of your future spouse. (True story. This is how I knew Peggy would be my wife. )


Halloween like most holidays is an example of cultural appropriation of a pagan holiday into a formal religious one. All Hallows Eve and the three days that follow were set aside as a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. 

Today, Halloween fun includes decorating your house with gravestones with funny sayings, inflatable cats, and horrifying realistic zombies, monsters or demons. Dressing up as a Disney or Marvel character and trick or treating. Or going to bars that have fake cobwebs on the walls and ceiling.



Today's video is a change of pace. 
Viewer discretion is advised.



4 comments:

  1. The cookie of death -- cultural appropriation on steroids.

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  2. Wasn’t Hop Tu Naa a band that had some Jefferson Airplane members in it?

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  3. Did you come back as a zombie at the end to terrorize your cat? :)= (It was a fun video...good job!)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I enjoyed making it. I did a screen test for the fake blood. Ketchup, BBQ sauce, and Frank's hot sauce. The hot sauce was the brightest but it stung my eyes. Ah, the sacrifice we make for art. And goofing around.

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